The network also helped USC shift next year's Troy game at Williams-Brice Stadium from Sept. 4 to Nov. 20, the week before the Gamecocks travel to Clemson. That change - coupled with the move of the Furman game from Oct. 2 to Sept. 18 - will give USC an open week a third of the way through the season (Oct. 2) rather than 11 weeks into it.

The only time USC has beaten Clemson under Spurrier was 2006 when the Gamecocks thumped Middle Tennessee a week before going to Death Valley.

But Spurrier did not sound overly concerned about the schedule changes.

"Whatever they say schedule-wise," Spurrier said. "I've got enough issues trying to score touchdowns from the 10-yard line. That's our issue right now on offense, as well as a lot of others."

When ESPN and North Carolina mentioned moving the 2010 game in Columbia, USC athletics director Eric Hyman said he would only do so if his alma mater agreed to reschedule it within a few years.

USC increased the buyout in the original contract from $50,000 to $800,000, which is what North Carolina would owe if it backs out of the 2013 game.

The Gamecocks beat UNC 21-15 in 2007 in Chapel Hill, but trail the series 34-17-4.

Extra points. Former Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel, who played for Spurrier in Gainesville, addressed the team before Wednesday's practice. Wuerffel, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1996 during the Gators' national championship season, was in Columbia for a fundraising event for his Desire Street Ministries. ...